Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Impressions of Joe Torre’s book

“The Yankee Years” is sitting on my coffee table right now, neighbored by a Frank Sinatra retrospective and the authorized history of the Ford Mustang. (Alas, I haven’t found Cosmo Kramer’s coffee table book on coffee tables.)

I said that I’d reserve judgment on Joe Torre’s book until I had a chance to crack its spine. Well, here it is:

This book didn’t need to be written.

That said, I’m glad it was.

As someone who was around the clubhouse the last year of Torre’s tenure, it’s amazing to read what was going on behind the closed doors – information that just wasn’t available to reporters and could only be known by the people who were actually involved in the day-to-day operations. Torre keeps talking about how this book will be a piece of history – I’d say it already is.

It’s not the salacious tell-all some people want you to believe it is. It’s a baseball book by an excellent writer in Verducci, with Torre speaking up as the main source – a man uniquely qualified to comment on the Yankees during that 12 year period, because he lived it.

If you cared about the Yankees from 1996 through 2007 – rooted for them
in the World Series, bought tickets to Yankee Stadium, wore an
interlocking ‘NY’ cap around town – it’s only natural to want to know
what actually happened. This book gives you a taste.

Sheets still wasn’t a high-risk due to this fact: every contract is pending a physical. It was a physical that cancelled the two-year deal that Sheets signed with the Rangers and it would be the physical that would have canceled any deal he and the Yanks would have hammered out. That said, I am very happy that Pettitte was signed over Sheets. My point, their was very little risk with Sheets, for the Yanks, if he was signed to a one-year incentive laden package.

Joe Torre managed the Yankees during the George S. era for 12 years. That in itself speaks volumes about the type of manager he was. Everybody knows AROD is a bit self-absorbed, that Carl Pavano was not a good move, that Mariano Rivera threw the ball into center against the Dbacks, that David Wells is a piece of work, and that Gary Sheffield and Kevin Brown are difficult. I knew that long before Joe wrote this book. To manage this team through that magnificent stretch and for him to write about it will be a treat for me as I relive, with deeper understanding, the best Yankee era since the 50’s and 60’s. Thanks Joe for your willingness to share with us, the fans.

I think the comment moose made about mo, is really true if you think about the big games mo has blown. All things come to a end and Mo Rivera has been sliding in crucial games the last few years. Moose is on to something.

I just purchased the Joe Torre book, and, also, Jane Heller’s “Confessions of a She-Fan” book last night !!! … I look forward to reading both books !!! … Also, it will be interesting to watch the Joe Torre interview with Bob Costas tonight on the MLB Network [8:00 p.m. EST] … It should be very informative, and the questions should be a lot more tougher than the “softball” questions that Larry King was tossing at Torre in his interview on King’s show last week !!! … Take care, Bryan, and, “Congratulations” on “Bombers Beat” ranking #3 on the new MLB Pro Blog “Leader’s List” !!! ……….. Jimmy [27NYY],”BY&L” … http://baseballtheyankeesandlife.mlblogs.com/

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